Justinian's Code Document

1)    Women’s roles in Byzantine society involved them being subservient to the men.  Their purpose was to be a wife or concubine and a mother to their children.  The reason for these assumptions is that, despite this document being based upon the family life between males and females, the females are placed under a lot more restrictions and generally hold less power than the male.  For example, a son needs permission from his grandfather and father for marriage, whereas a daughter needs only the permission of her grandfather; the daughter is not as important because only one person is needed to determine her marriage.  Regarding concubines, the woman must remain with her patron so long as he desires it; the woman cannot act based on her desires, rather, she has to please the male.

I think it is important to note that these ideas do not seem to be based on religious texts nor previous events in the history of the empire.  Instead, these ideas are based on the opinions of Justinian and his lawyers.  Under the concubine section, the lawyers or Justinian use “I think” and “I agree” instead of something along the lines of “based upon….”

2)     As we discussed in class, Justinian’s background is important because it gives insight as to how Justinian feels towards certain groups of society.  Although we are not certain how Justinian felt towards the rich and the poor, we know that he was raised as a peasant and probably feels either resentment for the rich or disinterest in the poor.  Justinian also came to power through the military, so some of these laws are probably built with the military on the mind. 

Background of the empire is also important because the chaos in the states of Rome and Byzantine can at least partially be attributed to the contradictory laws.  To avoid loopholes, the lawyers would have had to research previous events and create laws based upon these events.